Plans for big park in University Place are up for county OK

The Pierce County Council is expected to approve plans tonight for a park bigger than Point Defiance.

Plans for the Chambers Creek Properties - a 920-acre site in University Place - were recommended for approval by the council's Planning Committee.

A final public hearing is scheduled during the council meeting at 7 tonight in the University Center at Pacific Lutheran University.

The county owns the property and runs its waste-water treatment plant there. The plant will expand on the site and accommodate a project to reclaim water and biosolids.

The Chambers Creek Properties is located generally west of Grandview Drive, between 48th Street West and Chambers Bay.

Here's what the plans for the property include:

An 18-hole public golf course and arboretum across 150 acres on the northern portion. Water reclamation ponds and pedestrian trails will be incorporated into the golf course.

Beach access at the south end of the site, near Steilacoom. The area will feature a boat launch and a pedestrian path under the railroad tracks.

Four to six ballfields, offices and a restaurant near Grandview Drive and 64th Street West.

A landscaped path along Grandview, and trails through Chambers Creek canyon.

The beach access, the Grandview path and the first few miles of the Chambers Creek trails are among the improvements slated for the first 10 years. If approved tonight, project manager Joe Scorcio said, development could start as early as next year.

Altogether, the projects are estimated to cost $70 million over 40 to 50 years.

The county still must enter into agreements with the cities of Lakewood and University Place. Scorcio hopes to get those set up next month.

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